This quarter?s numbers good for Apple

Apple had a pretty good quarter despite all of the whispers about the health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Its sales were strong, with Apple reporting $7.46B US for Q3 of 2008, which resulted in a profit of $1.07B US; this translates into a growth of 30.8 percent over the same time period in 2007.

The growth in sales of Macintosh computers is of particular note, with Apple showing significant revenue growth in this area. The iPod area also showed growth despite analysts expecting this area to be flat. Apple also managed to sell 717,000 iPhones for this quarter, up 270,000 units from the same quarter last year.

What perhaps is the most interesting about Apple’s 3rd quarter announcement is the hint that Apple had more to come in the months ahead. The terminology that was used in its press release said, “we’re busy finishing several more wonderful new products to launch in the coming months.”

As you can imagine this has starting tongues wagging over possible new products that Apple could be announcing, while some analysts view it as nothing more than a ploy to help temper investor interest in Apple stock and to keep the price solid.

From a pure speculation as to what Apple may working on, we believe that it likely will refresh the iPod product line with a larger version of the Nano in new colors. It is also strongly believed that Apple will launch a new version of the Mac Mini with updated features prior to the back-to-school selling season.

Of course, Apple fans suspect that a new product may be in the future for Apple, but little is really known about what this product might be. The ongoing multi-touch tablet rumors are starting to heat up again as the mystery product that Jobs was referring to, but we think that it might instead be a new low-cost notebook product that Apple is working on.